Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) was introduced as a potential marker to determine inflammation in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. Recently, platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and NLR were found to positively correlated with inflammatory markers including tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin (IL)-6 in cardiac and noncardiac patients. Data regarding PLR and its association with inflammation are lacking in hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. Hence, we aimed to determine the relationship between PLR, NLR, and inflammation in ESRD patients. This was a cross-sectional study involving 62 ESRD patients (29 females, 33 males; mean age, 49.6 ± 14.6 years) receiving PD or HD for ≥6 months in the Dialysis Unit of Necmettin Erbakan University. PLR, NLR, C-reactive protein, TNF-α, IL-6 levels were measured. PLR, NLR, serum high sensitive C-reactive protein, IL-6, and TNF-α levels were significantly higher in PD patients when compared with HD patients. ESRD patients with PLR ≥ 140 had significantly higher NLR, IL-6, and TNF-α levels when compared to patients with PLR < 139. In the bivariate correlation analysis, PLR was positively correlated with NLR, IL-6, and TNF-α in this population. When we compared the association of PLR and NLR with IL-6 (r = 0.371, P = 0.003 vs. r = 0.263, P = 0.04, respectively) and TNF-α (r = 0.334, P = 0.008 vs. r = 0.273, P = 0.032, respectively), PLR was found to be superior to NLR in terms of inflammation in ESRD patients. Simple calculation of PLR can predict inflammation better than NLR in ESRD patients.

Chronic inflammation was found to be correlated with coronary (CAC) and thoracic peri-aortic calcification (TAC) in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) was introduced as a potential marker to determine inflammation in cardiac and noncardiac disorders. Data regarding NLR and its association with TAC and CAC are lacking. We aimed to determine the relationship between NLR and vascular calcification in ESRD patients. This was a cross-sectional study involving 56 ESRD patients (22 females, 34 males; mean age, 49.9 ± 14.2 years) receiving peritoneal dialysis or hemodialysis for ≥6 months in the Dialysis Unit of Necmettin Erbakan University. TAC and CAC scores were measured by using an electrocardiogram-gated 64-multidetector computed tomography. NLR was calculated as the ratio of the neutrophils and lymphocytes. There was a statistically significant correlation between NLR, TACS and CACS in ESRD patients (r = 0.43, P = 0.001 and r = 0.30, P = 0.02, respectively). The stepwise linear regression analysis revealed that age, as well as NLR were independent predictors of TACS. However, increased age was the only independent predictor of CACS according to linear regression analysis. Simple calculation of NLR can predict vascular calcification in ESRD patients.

In this preliminary study, the first in SLE patients, we illustrated that women with SLE had lower ovarian reserves and higher menstrual irregularity compared with healthy controls according to hormonal and ultrasonographical evaluation.

No abstract

Intestinal mucositis is an important problem in the patients receiving cancer treatment. We aimed to investigate the effect of anakinra, which is a well known anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory agent, on methotrexateinduced small intestine mucositis in rats. Forty rats were divided into 4 groups with 10 in each group. The healthy group (HG) and the methotrexate group (MTXG) were given distilled water, while the methotrexate + anakinra 50 (MTX+ANA50) and the methotrexate + anakinra 100 (MTX+ANA100) groups were intraperitoneally administered 50 and 100 mg/kg of anakinra. After one hour, the MTXG, MTX+ANA50 and MTX+ANA100 groups were given oral methotrexate at a dose of 5 mg/kg. This procedure was repeated once a day for 7 days. After the rats had been sacrificed, the small intestine tissue of rats were removed for the assesment of biochemical markers, histopathological evaluation and gene expression analyze. Statistical analyses of the data were performed using one-way ANOVA. Malondialdehyde (MDA), myeloperoxidase (MPO) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels were significantly higher, whereas total glutathione (tGSH) levels were significantly lower in MTXG (P<0.001) compared to other groups. MTX also increased IL-1β and TNF-α gene expression levels in MTXG (P<0.001). Inflammatory cell infiltration and damage to the villus were observed histopathologically in the MTXG group, whereas only mild inflammation was seen in the MTX+ANA100 group. A dose of 100 mg/kg of anakinra prevented the increase of the biochemical markers and gene expression levels better than a dose of 50 mg/kg. Intestinal mucositis caused by MTX may be preventible by co-administered anakinra.

In this study, two sulfonylureas--glimepiride and glipizide--commonly used in type 2 diabetes mellitus were investigated for genotoxicity in the Drosophila wing spot test. For this purpose, three-day-old transheterozygous larvae were treated with three mutagenic compounds, and the results obtained were compared with the control group. Mutational or recombinogenic changes were recorded in two recessive genes--multiple wing hairs (mwh) and flare (flr (3)). Two recessive markers were located on the left arm of chromosome 3, mwh in map position 0.3, and flare-3 (flr3) at 38.8, while the centromere was located in position 47.7. Wing spot tests are targeted on the loss of heterozygosity, which may be grounded in different genetic mechanisms such as mutation, mitotic recombination, deletion, half-translocation, chromosome loss, or nondisjunction. Genetic changes formatting in somatic cells of the imaginal discs cause nascence different mutant cloning in different body parts of adult flies. Our in vivo experiments demonstrated that glimepiride and glipizide show the genotoxicity, which is especially dependent on homologous somatic recombination.

Mite-holding rate of the houses in Erzincan province was found to be 94.44%. The mean number of mites per gram of dust was found to be 18.34. The most common mite species was A. siro, which was followed by D. pteronyssinus.

All expenses of the Archives of Basic and Clinical Research are covered by the unconditional education support provided by Erzincan Culture and Education Foundation (EKEV). Archives of Basic and Clinical Research'ın giderleri, Erzincan Kültür ve Eğitim Vakfı (EKEV) tarafından sağlanan koşulsuz eğitim desteğiyle karşılanmaktadır.